Conroe Courier November 21, 2023

Serenity Hubert Vega moved around constantly with her biological mother starting at age 9. They lived in shelters or with people Vega didn’t know. Then, she entered foster care in October 2012, when she was 14 years old. 

Finding her forever family gave her new hope and newfound freedom, she said while recounting her story Nov. 17 at the Lone Star Convention and Expo Center, where 15 families waited to welcome newly-adopted children into their homes. 

“They taught me what it was like to be a part of a family and how the support of a family makes the biggest difference in life,” Vega told the crowd. “Because of their love, I was free to be a child.”

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Since 2004, Montgomery County officials have celebrated National Adoption Day the Friday before Thanksgiving, said Leshia Fisher, regional director for the Child Protective Services’ Region 6, which covers 12 counties, including Harris, Montgomery and Fort Bend counties. 

Families packed the convention center, taking pictures to commemorate the moment and trying to maintain composure as Judge Amy Tucker finalized the adoptions.

Conroe resident Desmon Gutierrez fought back tears as the room cheered for him and his wife, Jessica, who now call 5-year-old Otto Gutierrez their son. 

Otto was fostered by the Gutierrez family for nearly three years, Gutierrez said. When it became apparent that no one else could take him in, it was no issue for Gutierrez to accept him as his own son, he said. 

“We’re finally ready to just be a family,” said Gutierrez, who also has a 13-year-old and 4-year-old. “(Otto) doesn’t have to decide, ‘is it uncle, is it dad?’ But it’s mom and dad now. And that’s it.”

Gutierrez said his family had a lot of support from local organizations as well as family members who also have fostered and adopted. 

Conroe residents Kris and Jessica VanHouten have been foster parents to seven children for nearly six years, Kris VanHouten said. The VanHoutens were there to adopt 1-year-old Olivia, whose 4-year-old brother and 3-year-old sister were already adopted by the family. 

“They all know that they’re adopted,” Kris VanHouten said, noting the children’s excitement. 

“I’m just overwhelmed with gratitude that we’ve had the opportunity to foster and love so many kids, and then to come to this place of finally adopting,” said Jessica VanHouten, who was also adopted as a child. “Obviously, adopting is super close to my heart, because that was my story…to be able to do that for other children, that are now our children, has been more than I could ever thought, dreamed and prayed for.”

‘We’re always in need of foster families’

As of Nov. 17, there were about 400 children from Montgomery County in CPS care, Fisher said, and the number is closer to 600 when counting children from other areas being fostered in the county. 

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The need for foster care is greater than the need for congregate care, Fisher said, noting that county officials are always in need of more foster and adoptive families. That’s because the goal is to place children in the county where they were removed from their families, rather than Houston, Dallas or other places farther away. 

“We want them here. Why? Because, we know if they stay connected to their friends, they stay connected to their families, they stay connected to their educational connections, that children have better outcomes,” Fisher said. 

Several organizations such as Love Fosters Hope, Love Heals Youth, CASA Child Advocates of Montgomery County, The Champion Project and Angel Reach work together to support foster and kinship families, she said. 

First year at the convention and expo center

The National Adoption Day event was consolidated into one courtroom when Tucker took the bench in 2021. She said there was standing room only in her courtroom last year, when 16 children were joined by their new family members came to celebrate. There is a lot more room to host everyone at the convention center. 

“Sometimes (parents) bring 20 family members.” Tucker said. 

Bekah Fowler, 17, and Rachel Gautro, 14, were joined by several family members during the Nov. 17 event after being separated from them for some time, said Paolina Fasula, advocate for CASA Child Advocates of Montgomery County. 

“For them to be back with this incredibly loving family is really heartwarming,” Fasula said. 

Magnolia resident Tanja Fowler, who wore a shirt that read “Local Hope Dealer,” said she was thankful to have both sisters back in the family ahead of Thanksgiving. Since the sisters are Fowler’s cousins, now sisters, she and other family members have invented a new term for them — “Scousins.” 

The family laughed as they prepared to start a new chapter in their lives.Â